


you're looking for ghosts (in empty alley ways)

by secretfeanorian



Series: the worst things in life come free to us [20]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-23
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-26 18:16:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2661686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secretfeanorian/pseuds/secretfeanorian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maglor has a bit of a habit of worrying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you're looking for ghosts (in empty alley ways)

_It was sad music. But it used its sadness like a battle flag. It said the universe had done all it could, but you were still alive.  
_

* * *

The day before the press conference, Maglor slips away from the tower again. He’s wearing a jacket and the hood is pulled up. He walks with his head and shoulders bowed and tries not to draw attention to himself. He wanders around the city for a few hours; eventually finding himself standing in front of an apartment building. There’s a man heading his way and when the man sees his face, he pauses. Maglor offers a tight smile and Daeron sighs ever so slightly. “Please don’t be running off again.” He says quietly and Maglor shakes his head.  
  
“I just-” He starts, then pauses. After a minute of fruitlessly searching for the right word, he exhales loudly and makes a confused shrug gesture with his hands.  
  
Daeron pushes his braid over his shoulder and almost reaches out to grasp Maglor’s shoulder. “Why not talk to…someone else? We don’t really know each other.” He questions, but he’s already turning to lead Maglor to his apartment.  
  
Trailing behind, Maglor tries to find an answer, but the only one he can come up with is another confused shrug. They pass a man on the stairs, who smiles when he sees Daeron and calls out a greeting. The silver-haired elf returns the greeting and waits until the man is out of earshot before asking, “The press conference is tomorrow, right?” as he unlocks his apartment. Maglor silently nods and closes the door behind him. The room he enters is a little cluttered, but not as messy as he had half expected from previous meetings with the other elf. Daeron turns around to look at Maglor for a moment, then gestures toward the couch. Maglor sits as Daeron asks, “Are you alright, Maglor? You’ve got a panicked expression under that one.”  
  
Maglor takes a deep breath and then lets it out in a rush. “I am a bit panicky.” He admits, “But that’s not why I-” Once again, he draws off and Daeron hums in not quite understanding, but in slowly-beginning-to-understand.  
  
“You want to talk about immortality?” He asks sarcastically and Maglor shakes his head, a confused half-fire coming to his eyes.  
  
“I just-” He starts, then tries again. “I didn’t really realize I was coming here. I was just walking. But when I realized where I had ended up,” He shrugs, but doesn’t stop or pause, “You have a calming presence. I’ll go if you want me to.”  
  
Daeron’s face takes on a pondering look; eyebrows slightly furrowed and lips pursed; before he shakes his head ever so slightly. “I disagree with you on the calming presence bit, but you can stay if you want.” Daeron turns and moves into the kitchen and Maglor sighs quietly, but doesn’t reply. “However,” Daeron calls from the other side of the apartment and Maglor’s head snaps up, “I would wager you’re feeling more than just a bit panicky if that hand twitch is anything to go by.” Maglor looks down at his hand, which is now of course, not twitching and he hears Daeron start laughing. “You do have a nervous twitch Maglor.” He says after a few moments of laughter.  
  
Maglor sits on his hand in response and contemplates sticking out his tongue. He doesn’t, but it’s a very near thing. Daeron laughs again as if he knows what Maglor is thinking and then sits down on the other end of the couch. Maglor somehow recognizes his face to be saying “Seriously though, are you alright?”  
  
He lets out yet another sigh and holds back another shrug. “I’m nervous. And I don’t really want to talk about the past. But I suppose I should’ve thought of that before I spilled my guts on national television.”  
  
Daeron makes a face. “I know I’m supposed to try to help, but I’m having a hard time disagreeing with you on that.” Maglor smiles. It probably looks forced, with his eyes feeling as worn out as they are and it feels about half as forced as that probable outward appearance. Belatedly, he realizes that he is still sitting on his hand and he awkwardly pulls it out from under his thighs.  
  
Daeron watches him for a minute, fighting a smile until Maglor jokingly glares at him. For the next minutes, he’s frozen, because he hadn’t even bothered to consider if Daeron would realize the expression on his face was a joking one, but then the silver haired elf lets the smile loose and Maglor feels a smile grow on his own face. Daeron reaches over and pokes Maglor in the ribcage, but doesn’t say anything. He seems to be at a loss for words and Maglor is too.  
  
For a few minutes, they just silently sit there and then a phone starts ringing from somewhere in the apartment. Both elves jump ever so slightly and then Daeron gets up to go locate his cell phone. Maglor leans back into the couch and takes a good look at the part of the apartment he can see.  
  
Daeron pokes his head back into the room 10 minutes later and the first word out of his mouth is an apology and the next ones are “I have to go. Something’s come up at work.” He does sound sincerely sorry, but either way Maglor wouldn’t mind.  
  
“It’s fine.” He says, getting up, “I should probably be getting back anyways.” He continues and Daeron nods once before disappearing again.  
  
Maglor locks the door and then closes it behind him. He sticks his hands into his jacket’s pockets and starts walking. On his way down, he passes a college-age person who looks at him curiously as if trying to place him and he subtlety increases his pace, hoping that by the time they realizes where they know him from, he’ll already be a fair distance away from the apartment building.  
  
Once he can no longer see Daeron’s apartment, he slows his pace back to its normal speed, but he continues to listen carefully even after he’s out of earshot of the building. He passes a group of high school students who are too busy talking about the press conference tomorrow to even glance at him. He has to hold back a soft snort at that, seeing as a snort would probably make someone – if not the students – look at him. He enjoys walking, but as he looks at all the people, he starts to get a little uneasy. All it would take was one person recognizing him and then… He quickens his pace to a fast walk and still feels uneasy.  
  
He accidentally bumps into someone while his thoughts are running away from him and feels papers flying around him. In the next moment, he hears that someone saying “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!” as they bend down. Maglor bends down as well and begins picking up some of the scattered pages.  
  
“Don’t be,” he replies, “I wasn’t watching where I was going.” He picks up the final page and brushes a small amount of dirt off of it. He hands his stick of papers to the woman as she apologizes again, then stops. He feels his stomach turn with a violent return of his earlier uneasiness, but after a moment of silence, she smiles at him and continues on her way.  
  
He doesn’t realize it, but some of his nervousness has bled away. When he walks back into the tower’s residential floors, Steve looks up when he hears someone come in. “You alright?” He asks and Maglor is silent. _You didn’t think I ran off?_ He wants to ask, but he can’t make his mouth move to form the words and so he stands there for a few minutes trying to form another response.  
  
Finally he manages to say “I could be worse.” Steve’s face doesn’t change, so Maglor figures that his response was an acceptable one. He’s thinking _I really don’t want to do this_ , but these words he refuses to let out and instead says nothing and sits down at the counter where Steve is also sitting. Bucky comes in and grins when he sees Maglor. Maglor finds himself returning the grin. The nervousness doesn’t go away, but he knows he’s not alone.


End file.
